Topics I've Started

I posted in the making hot sauce forum, but since I've decided to jump in there, I might as well jump in here- right?

I'm a home gardener who has really become passionate about growing open-pollinated tomatoes and hot peppers. I grow lots of other things too, but those are my absolute favorites. If I had to limit what I grew, it would be tomatoes and hot peppers.

For the most part, I use my peppers in salsa. We love salsa of many kinds and heats, and I love playing with different peppers to get different flavors in the salsas. It was a great year for me pepper-wise and I finally had way too many peppers for just salsa-making, and it's been fun playing with them. I made my first hot sauce, and I have some peppers drying for making my own crushed red pepper flake type of product.

This year I grew Cascabella Chilies, Serranos, Maule's Red Hots, Bulgarian Carrot Peppers, Hinkelhatz, Aji Cristal, Georgia Flame and Bhut Jolokia. This coming year I plan to add a Jalapeno or two, maybe a habanero of some kind, and am always on the lookout for new chilies that have flavor. I'm not a big hot-head, but am more after the flavor hiding within those hot peppers. Bhut Jolokia totally surprised me with the flavor packed in those little guys. The best batch of salsa I made this year had the ghost pepper in it.

I don't think I'll be growing the Bulgarian Carrot Pepper again. Pretty little pepper, but it's got a really thick skin that makes it not very fun to eat or chop up. If I were a market grower I think I would grow it.

I would love to save my own seed from hot peppers, but my limited space prevents me from segregating my plants, so for now I will content myself with ordering seed. Seed Saver's Exchange has proven to be a great source of reliable seed for my peppers so far.

Anyway, I've been lurking here on and off for years, and thought I'd jump in and spend more time gleaning ideas for my peppers in years to come. There's nothing worse than a plant loaded with peppers, and no ideas for what to do with them.

My very first hot sauce has now been aging over three months. I made it using a nice blend of all the peppers in my garden that were bright red and ready to be used. A mixture of Aji Cristal, Maule's Red Hot, Serrano, Hinkelhatz, and Cascabel Chiles. The mixture right now smells amazing, and I can't wait to taste it on something.

The question is, do I really need to strain it? Right now it has a beautiful appearance- I like the look of the seeds and tiny bits of pulp scattered throughout. It reminds me of the really good Asian hot sauces that are loaded with chunks and bits. I'm thinking I would like to just put this in small mason jars and store it in the fridge as is, but if the seeds are going to get funky, I guess I'll strain first.

Here is the recipe I used, followed to the letter with the exception of making the 2 pounds of hot peppers a blend of what was ripe and ready. Oh, and apparently I didn't follow to the letter, because while I seeded some peppers, I left a lot of seeds in. The recipe is from Pepperfool.com.

Basic Hot Pepper Sauce

3 c Distilled white vinegar

2 lb Cayenne OR jalapenos Seeded and chopped

2 ts Salt

Simmer vinegar, salt and peppers at least 5 minutes. Process in processor. Store in a glass bottle. Put in a dark cabinet and let age at least 3 months. Strain when ready to use.